Stephen Mallon Featured in Wired Magazine

The Super Defense Force vs the Titanno Beasts (The Fall of Skytopia) Performance

The Super Defense Force vs the Titanno Beasts (The Fall of Skytopia)

Performance:

Sunday, June 21st at 8PM

The Super Defense Force vs the Titanno Beasts (The Fall of Skytopia) is part of an on going series of collaborative multimedia performances involving live experimental music, shadow puppets, and Japanese pop culture inspired giant monsters and robots doing battle amongst luxury condominium city sets. The narrative of the performance involves a  a super squad of military robotic defenders that do battle against a global giant monster epidemic.  Max Salvo, the supreme commander of the Super Defense Force and Kungra, the evil master mind of the Titanno Beasts make dueling television proclamations that drive the narratives but also hint at themes of apocalyptic anxieties, militarism, terrorism and expanding class disparities.  

This performance series is conceived by Mark Stilwell, with themes developed by a team of collaborators, live music performed by Brian Olin, Kevin Kozak and Mark Gonzalez.

The performers and collaborators include:

John, Nicte-ha and JR Bernstein 

Carlos Hernandez

Keith Gopie

Mark Gonzalez

Angleo Roldan

Chris Paisley 

Ethan Crenson

Yoko Stilwell

Brian Olin

and Mark Stilwell

Sonic Front Performance at Front Room Gallery for Williamsburg Second Friday

sonicfront at Front Room Gallery 
147 Roebling Street Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Friday, May 8th 8-10PM
http://www.frontroom.org

INSECT ARK
SEYHAN MUSAOGLU
THE SENSORIUM SAXOPHONE ORCHESTRA

sonic front is an exploration of electro-acoustic improvisation, electronic music, and sound art.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

INSECT ARK started as a the one-woman solo project of bassist/multi-instrumentalist Dana Schechter. Formed in late 2011, Insect Ark has been building a following in the experimental/doom/drone scene in both her hometown of NYC and internationally.

Starting in Jan 2015, San Francisco-based drummer Ashley Spungin (Taurus) joined on drums and synthesizers. Schechter will perform solo when Spungin is on the west coast.

Creating a personal soundtrack to the human psyche’s underbelly, Insect Ark weaves a brooding, textural landscape, a starless night spiked with light and flash. The music braids together delay-drenched lapsteel, drums, distorted bass & synths to create a sonic mural both uncomfortably intimate and icy cold.

Schechter has a history working with other projects, notably as bassist in M. Gira’s Angels of Light (Swans) and her own band Bee and Flower. Spungin is known for her work with Portland based bands Taurus and Purple Rhinestone Eagle. Schechter is also an animator and video artist working in the film business by trade.

Insect Ark’s first full-length album, “Portal/Well” will be released  on CD with Autumnsongs Records, June 2015.
Previous releases include the 10” Vinyl EP “Long Arms” (2013, Geweih Ritual Documents) and the 7” Vinyl “Collapsar” (2012, Lancashire and Somerset Records).

On these first three releases, Schechter played and recorded all the instruments in her Brooklyn studio.

The new duo incarnation of Insect Ark recorded their first single together, “Windless”, to be released as a lathe cut 7" for Utech Records and will be touring in June 2015 in support of Portal/Well.

www.insectark.com
www.facebook.com/InsectArk

Insect Ark Photo Credit: Caroline Harrison

SEYHAN MUSAOGLU is a multi-media artist whose work spans the fields of live performance, sound art, film and video, and 2-D media. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources ranging from science fiction imagery, to fashion, to modern dance choreography, her work investigates the gap between sound production and music composition, contemporary feminist theory, and the history of avant-garde filmmaking. She has been performing widely with collaborations celebrated internationally in genres of sound and experimental noise. She is also an innovative independent curator, and is the founder of the multi-purpose art space SPACE DEBRIS. Seyhan holds an MFA from Parsons the New School for Design. Some of the venues her work has been presented at are: The Kitchen (NYC), New York Studio Gallery (NYC), Lit Lounge (NYC), Curta 8 Film Festival (Brazil), and Istanbul’s famed venue, Babylon.

THE SENSORIUM SAXOPHONE ORCHESTRA formed in 2008 as NYC's first full-on Saxophone Orchestra. Since then, SENSORIUM has enchanted NYC audiences at Douglas Street Music Collective, Goodbye Blue Monday, Issue Project Room, Brooklyn Lyceum, Gershwin Hotel, Shea Stadium, House of Elders, White Box Gallery, 17 Frost Gallery, Midtown Manhattan Library, Spectrum, The Front Room Gallery and The WAH Center.

Their unique single-timbre take on Terry Riley's minimalist classic "In C" is available on Living Records, Wayside Music (Cuneiform Records), and Downtown Music Gallery. The Pulse was provided by a Snare Drum rather than the traditional Piano Pulse, suggested by Roger Miller. The orchestra performed IN C numerous times including at the Midtown Manhattan Library without a Pulse.

"...a haunting dissonant swoon like that of battling church organs, or a swarm of bugs."
- Village Voice, Christopher Weingarten, 2009

http://www.benmiller.info/SSO.html
http://www.sensoriumsaxophone.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sensorium-Saxophone-Orchestra/277106168999578?ref=hl

Sasha Bezzubov: "The Republic of Dust" on view through May 17

                                       
Sasha Bezzubov: The Republic of Dust

April 17th-May 17th, 2015
Viewing hours: Fri-Sun 1-6 and by appointment 

The Front Room Gallery is proud to present "The Republic of Dust," a solo exhibition of new photographs by the artist, Sasha Bezzubov. "The Republic of Dust" is a series of landscapes and portraits of foreigners and locals who coexist in the threatened environment of the Republic of Gabon's rainforest region: a microcosm of global trade and its ruinous effects.

Bezzubov, known for his previous work addressing such subjects as global warming and natural disasters continues his investigation into the impact of humanity's interaction with the natural environment. His photo- graphs, shot with a large format view camera (8x10" and 5x7") are so sharp the dried soil caking the fern leaves on the Gabonese road seems to flake off onto the floor before ones very eyes.

Bezzubov's photographs capture the beauty of the landscape and the massive upheaval caused by the extraction industries (such as timber, rubber, manganese, among other national resourcesgatheredfromtheforestand the land) on the tropical forests in the Republic of Gabon, considered one of the worlds most precious ecosystems.

In Bezzubov's photographs one can see the rainforest is now crisscrossed by logging roads that cut deep into the interior. The dust created in the wake of passing trucks, which cart enormous trees to the port, covers everything in sight. The rainforest turns deep red as the trucks leave behind clouds of dust. This dust settles on plants, smothering them and transforming their natural greens with an industrial concoction of red glow. 

In Bezzubov's Gabonese portraits an unlikely mix of locals and foreigners coexist in this forest, often with great tension. There are Gabonese villagers and indigenous Pygmies, migrant workers from neighboring countries, European technicians working in extracting industries, Chinese laborers, drug tourists, and a motley crew of conservationists, scientists, activists that come together in resource rich regions of the developing world. 

Bezzubov is a two-time recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship Award. His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions including Tucson Museum of Art; Museum Belvedere, The Netherlands; Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts; Wavehill, New York; New Orleans Museum of Art; and Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee. Bezzubov's first monograph Wildfire, was published in 2009 by Nazraeli Press. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York and the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, among others. Bezzubov's work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, The Telegraph Magazine, Esquire, Newsweek, Art & Auction, and Details; and has received critical acclaim in The New Yorker, Freeze, The Village Voice, The Brooklyn Rail and Print. In 2012, The Sylvia Bongo Foundation invited Sasha Bezzubov to Gabon, Central Africa. "Republic of Dust" is a series of photographs that resulted from this experience. Bezzubov received a MFA in Photography from Yale University in 1997. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. 

The Front Room Gallery is located at 147 Roebling Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Gallery hours are Friday-Sunday 1-6PM and by appointment. Press contact: Daniel Aycock 718-782-2556

Ken Ragsldale: "The Hundred Acre Wood" Closing Brunch and Artist Talk

Join us this Sunday at 4PM for an artist talk with Ken Ragsdale in conjunction with his exhibition: "The Hundred Acre Wood. We will be serving brunch at 2PM. This is the final day of viewing for the exhibition.

Ken Ragsdale: The Hundred - Acre Wood

On view through April 12th

Artist Talk Sunday, April 12th 4PM

Front Room Gallery is proud to present “The Hundred-Acre Wood” a solo exhibition of photographs by Ken Ragsdale. These magical photographs as are achieved through the artist’s composition of fabricated paper structures, which depict memories and landscapes of middle to north-west United States.

Ragsdale’s process begins with rough sketches of places and things from his past that are relevant to current themes he is considering. This exhibition focuses on a time period of 1974-78, in the regions of Northern Idaho, to Eastern Oregon and the areas between. As his working drawings solidify the dimensions of the objects which represent his memories from that era, Ragsdale considers the landscape, terrain and weather, filtered through his personal memories and experiences.

Ken Ragsdale: The Hundred - Acre Wood

Ken Ragsdale: The Hundred - Acre Wood 
March 20th - April 12th 

Front Room Gallery is proud to present “The Hundred-Acre Wood” a solo exhibition of photographs by Ken Ragsdale. These magical photographs as are achieved through the artist’s composition of fabricated paper structures, which depict memories and landscapes of middle to north-west United States. 

 Ragsdale’s process begins with rough sketches of places and things from his past that are relevant to current themes he is considering. This exhibition focuses on a time period of 1974-78, in the regions of Northern Idaho, to Eastern Oregon and the areas between. As his working drawings solidify the dimensions of the objects which represent his memories from that era, Ragsdale considers the landscape, terrain and weather, filtered through his personal memories and experiences. 

“My father took a job as shop foreman on a ranch of a few thousand acres, on which (among other things) were grown … 800 acres of potatoes and 1,500 acres of grain. The ranch itself filled a very flat river valley with its north edge being the Canadian border. On either side, the mountains rose like two walls thousands of feet high, compressing the space between. The house we lived in for the majority of that time was just above the flat of the fields and close by the main north-south road leading to Canada. The nearest town was nearly 30 miles to the south, and where I went to school. The weather was extreme, especially in the winter, and any snow that fell in November was sure to be there at the bottom of the thaw when April arrived. The forests in the mountains around us were heavily logged and along with the farms in the valley provided most of the jobs available in the county. It was a rare occurrence to find a classmate whose family did not own a tractor or a chainsaw, or both, or several of each.” -Ken Ragsdale 

These types of recollections inform Ragsdale’s works and help to identify the key components of each work. Once the composition and components are determined as to capture the aura of a memory, schematic drawings are documented and prepared for hand assembly. Laboriously the schematics are cut out, folded and tabbed to create their final 3-dimensional formats. As each object is placed and the structures oriented, Ragsdale modifies the scenes to perfectly frame each scenario for the final photograph. From simple sheets of white Bristol Vellum, the atmosphere and lighting brings each image to life and allows for a reminiscent view of a wistful past.

Mark Masyga "Lost Horizon" Exhibition Opens Friday, February 20th

Mark Masyga: Lost Horizon

February 20th - March 15th

Opening Reception: Friday February 20th, 7-9pm  

Front Room Gallery is proud to present "Lost Horizon" a solo exhibition of new works by the artist, Mark Masyga. Featuring painting and sculpture, Masyga's compositions have lively linear elements balanced with a sensitive, yet intense sense of color. Mark Masyga uses line to enhance both specificity and ambiguity, creating a sense of mystery.

 Created concurrently with the paintings are constructions made with wood, plaster, Structolite and other materials. Masyga's sculptural works amplify and resonate with the paintings, activating a nuanced experience, as seen independently and in tandum with his two-dimensional works. These pieces evoke landscape and exhibit architectural traits in a different way than the paintings do, while maintaining a high degree of specificity. The Folly of Fragonard is the second in a series of larger-scale sculptural works. The work on display is a re-imagination of Fonthill Abbey, the infamous Gothic revival English country house built (and ultimately collapsed under its own weight) under the hasty direction of William Thomas Beckford, circa 1813.

Building from concepts in previous works, which refer to imagery of construction sites, ruins or natural disasters, Masyga is now minimizing his use representational references. These new works focus on Masyga's development of his visual vocabulary, utilizing mark-making, forms, and style as indicators which infer rather than direct to these references. Building from the core concepts stemming from the origin of 'utopia', Masyga's recent works hint at locale and structure, but rely on the integrity of the forms, linework and palette in an insulated manner. There is a playfulness in the search and discovery within Mark Masyga's recent body of work which is challenging and engaging.

"901 - Miles From Normal" Exhibition Opens Thursday, February 12th

901 - MILES FROM NORMAL

George Barecca, Sam Buchanan, Lexie Bragg, Megan Coonelly, CJ Davis, Emma Farber, Chris Hagen, m. jo hart, Gina Hunt, Venise Keys, Jeremy Lampe, Laura Newman, Krista G Profitt, Stoney Sasser, Dylan Welch, Micah Zavacky

February 12th - 15th, 2015

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 12th, 7-9pm

Viewing hours: Fri-Sun 1-6 and by appointment

“901 - MILES FROM NORMAL” features a selection of works by promising MFA students from Illinois State University’s School of Art. 901 is the number of miles between New York City and Normal, Illinois, where the University is located. Included are distinctive works from the realms of painting, installation, photography, ceramics, glass and prints.  This exhibition marks the first time the artists have exhibited in NYC and it offers them a chance to receive critical response to their artwork.

George Barreca draws with slabs of clay that are spontaneously cut and attached to construct functional pots. This direct way of working and his application of loosely brushed, lush colors allow for improvisation and captures a sense of immediacy.

Capturing elaborately staged narratives, Lexie Bragg examines the in-between moments of our lives; how our stories happen even when we aren’t ready, and the human need for reason and story telling.

Sam Buchanan’s manipulated paper wall pieces explore the dynamics of neglect and repair, harm and amendment. This exploration manifests in several ways: as woven sheets of previously cut and sagging paper; as stoppers in a broken surface; as padded and stuffed paper.

Relying on childhood images as means for a self-portraiture, Megan Coonelly recalls the awkwardness of childhood and adolescence.  Through her manipulation of paint, the desire to form an identity becomes warped and unidentifiable.

Continuing a long-standing interest in labor and its various levels of intersectionality, CJ Davis' photographs investigate the role of women's employment in the service and care industries. Through the lens of gender, she is looking to create images that explore the feminized nature of these fields while giving voice to the diversity of real-world worker experiences.

Emma Farber's approach to contemporary abstraction involves passages culled from autobiographical moments captured in acrylic and oil paint. Her ideas include shifts in visual and mental perception and space as it exists in regard to mood/human emotion.

Chris Hagen's prints and experimental books act upon a range of communal expectations to explore how we take the world in, how we share it with others, how we try to hold on to fleeting aspects of it, and how we reconsider them in hindsight.

m. jo hart creates female figures out of clay which depict ordinary moments that occur throughout the day.  Her objective is to translate the mundane moments of everyday life into quiet, thought-provoking work.

An obsessive fascination with impermanent phenomena is manifest materially in Gina Hunt’s paintings that explore color and light with sprayed paint on cut canvas. Hunt offers simultaneous experiences based in interwoven patterns and color.

Each of Venise Keys’s paintings is more determined than the last to capture the emotion of the black female experience and challenge how abstraction can communicate blackness. Her paintings do not contain power fists, Afros, or black bodies but they are about all of those things.

Jeremy Lampe's glass sculptures are dynamic animated works that reference movement and dichotomies between people and their surroundings. He wants to reveal evidence that the works were soft and malleable before the annealing process as a way of showcasing the unique characteristics of glass.

By combining steel and raw, cracked, fired clay, Laura Newman makes abstract sculptures that draw conceptual focus from the ways these materials work together to create forms that are both strong and fragile. This contrast can be related to many things in our modern society, ranging from the construction and eventual decline of cities, to expectations of gender roles.

The relationships that people form, whether new or long standing, are the focus of Krista G Profitt’s oil on canvas paintings. Those relationships are played out within the act of painting, which becomes a narrative of her personal connection to the canvas.

Stoney Sasser builds playful, surreal and celebratory installations, which mimic biological forms commonly manifested through the material spinoffs of human commerce and production. She uses materials like fabric, foam, yarn, plaster, acrylic and caulk to invite you into her imaginative world of theatrics and intrigue.

Is it possible for a distinct material object to simultaneously have more than one kind of physical identity? With a collection of surrealist meditations on time and space, Oakland artist Dylan Welch contemplates this question and in the process creates her own science of whimsy.

Through direct observation and memory, Micah Zavacky creates prints that refer to the landscape. He uses the landscape as a foundation for his perceptual exploration of his subject matter, and his response to an image as it develops.

The Front Room Gallery is located at 147 Roebling Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Gallery hours are Friday-Sunday 1-6 PM and by appointment. Press contact: Daniel Aycock 718-782-2556

Ross Racine Featured in 50/50: NEW PRINTS 2015/WINTER at International Print Center New York

50/50: New Prints 2015/WinterOPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, January 22, 2015; 6-8pm 

 
ON VIEW: January 15 - March 14, 2015
508 West 26th St. Room 5A, New York, NY 10001

International Print Center New York (IPCNY) presents 50/50: New Prints 2015/Winter an exhibition featuring forty-five prints by thirty-four artists selected by a committee of print specialists from over 2,000 submissions. Opening IPCNY's 15th Anniversary year, 50/50: New Prints 2015/Winter is the fiftieth in this unique exhibition series. With all prints required to have been made within the past year, these shows bring to the fore new trends, talents and techniques as they emerge in the field of contemporary printmaking. Many mediums of printmaking are represented, including etching, lithography, silkscreen, and relief.

50/50: New Prints 2015/ Winter will be on view from January 15 through March 14, 2015.

The jury for 50/50: New Prints 2015/Winter was as follows: Joseph Goddu (Art Advisor and Dealer, American Art), Jodi Hauptman (Senior Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art), Jane Kent (Artist and Professor), Andrew Mockler (Master Printer, Jungle Press Editions), Carrie Pollack (Artist, Educator, Avenues The World School), Marc Schwartz (Collector).

50 prints by: Golnar Adili, David Altmejd, Steven Arnerich, Ann Aspinwall, Evan Bellantone, Håkan Berg, Mary Lynn Blasutta, Ken Buhler, Deb Chaney, Phillip Chen, Marianne Dages, Thorsten Dennerline, Kevin Frances, Robert Howsare, Travis Janssen, Anita Jung, Hye Lee, Ting Liu, Matt Magee, Jennifer Marshall, Monique Martin, Janis Murovskis, Leslie Mutchler, Elvia Perrin, Chiara Principe, Ross Racine, Szilvia Revesz, Kate Shepherd, John-Mark Schlink, Jelena Sredanovic, Rob Swainston, Eszter Sziksz, Jason Urban, Mark Williams, and Hank Willis.

Image: Ross Racine, A New Day, 2014, digital drawing (inkjet on paper). Courtesy of the Front Room Gallery, New York.

Stephen Mallon's series "Next Stop Atlantic" recently featured on Gizmodo:

"The Spectacular Sight of Subway Cars Being Dumped Into the Ocean" by Michael Hession
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